STRIKING ARTWORK AND IMAGES LIKE THE ONE ABOVE WILL BE PART OF THE YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE EXHIBITION. Yosemite Renaissance is celebrating its 25th anniversary year with an exhibit of 42 paintings, photographs, sculptures and drawings by 39 artists. Drawn from a record number of 665 entries, this year’s exhibit includes a broad range of works from the representational to the abstract. Photographer Ted Orland and artist/art historian Hope B. Werness will be this year’s judges, awarding $4,000 in prizes to selected artists. The award-winners will be announced at the opening reception on Friday, Feb. 26.

Yosemite Renaissance XXV will be on view at the Yosemite Museum Gallery from Feb. 27 until May 2, (10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.) The public is invited to the opening reception and anniversary celebration which will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. The exhibit will travel to the following locations: Hanford (Kings Art Center), June-July; and Redwood City (San Mateo County Office of Education), August through September 2010.

The artists included in Yosemite Renaissance XXV are: Madeleine Avirov, Jody Sears Barbuta, Susan Bolen, Sue Chapman, Jane Culp, Stephen H. Curl, Robert Dayton, Cynthia DeBenedetti, Janice Druian, Karen Druker, Ira Estin, William Bradford Frost, Rheana Gardner, Phil Gross, John Harrison, Laura Hering, Michael Katz, Steve Kleier, Bruce Klein, Richard A. Lopez, Ken Marcus, Roger Martin, Jon Mc- Cormack, David Mooney, Collin Murphy, Jim Murray, William Neill, Penny Otwell, Pokey Park, Joanne Ratcliffe,

Nancy Robbins, Anne W. Rosenfeld, Hugh Sakols, Virginia Sharkey, Laurie Smith, Dorene Steggell, Andie Thrams, Jill Tisdale, and Alan Work.

The goals of Yosemite Renaissance are to bring together the works of contemporary artists that do not simply duplicate traditional representations; to establish a continuum with past generations of Yosemite artists; and to help re-establish visual art as a major interpretive medium of the landscape and a stimulus to the protection of the environment.

Yosemite Renaissance is a non-profit organization for the arts of Yosemite, supported, in part, by funds and services from the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, the National Park Service and the Ansel Adams Gallery.